Gangsta Paradise review

Gangsta Paradise tells the story of a nameless protagonist in a once peaceful city safe from crime. Unfortunately, peace is interrupted by a mafia boss by the name of Al Calzone who, along with his thugs, wants local business owners to pay tribute for “protection”. While some paid fearing for their lives, others actually paid with their lives. You have to stop them before they reach your mother’s flower store. Show them who’s boss.

Gangsta Paradise is a tower defense type of game where players, as the protagonist, will remain at the far left of the screen, only moving up or down in order to align shots and kill incoming threats. Between you and the enemies is a simple barricade that can be destroyed within a matter of seconds if too many enemies reach and attacks the barricade. Tougher enemies will carry firepower allowing them to shoot and damage the barrier from afar; you best be quick on that trigger.

Each kill rewards you with money which can, in turn, be used, at the main screen, to upgrade weapons and the barricade. The more money you earn, the stronger your weapons and barricade become. The first problem with this is that stronger weapons can be used… at a cost. That’s right, once you reach the financial requirement, you can equip temporarily unlocked weapons during the wave; the same thing for a stun grenade. And for the latter, the further you get, the more expansive it becomes.

While it sounds fun on paper, the first issue with this is the abrupt difficulty spike. The first two levels are properly paced and feels like a natural progression; whereas starting with level 4, a few seconds in, the game will throw you stronger enemies along with big batches of weak cronies. Given that your default weapon doesn’t hold much ammo at first, you’ll empty the clip killing bigger enemies while your barricade is stormed and destroyed in the same amount of time it takes to reload.

That being said, this leads in perfectly into the game’s second nuisance; it will require a certain amount of time dedicated to grinding and replaying the same levels over and over in order to accumulate some spare change so you can upgrade your default weapon along with making your barrier sturdier and able to sustain additional damage so it gives you more chances for survival. I’m not opposed to griding, but not all genres fit well with “level” grinding. For RPG games, it’s fine because you face a handful of diverse enemies, while here it’s the same levels, enemies, attack, etc… it gets boring and repetitive very quickly.

The game does look great, however; its cartoon-like visual adds a layer of lightness to the game’s semi-serious tone. It’s also very colorful and the enemy design is actually pretty decent. Not much to say about the level design given that you’re restrained to the same spot for every level and you can’t really move around and explore; besides you’ll be more focused to spot incoming enemies instead of admiring the decor. The soundtrack is fair and interesting; it’s there to keep you focused on the carnage; sadly soundtrack of the year material, it is not.

While I applaud developers taking chances, Gangsta Paradise gets old and boring pretty quickly. Given its limited gameplay variety, abrupt difficulty spike and its grindy requirements make for a boring, repetitive, and tedious experience. It also feels cheap that you have to spend money to upgrade additional weapons, but having to pay to use them as well? Sounds like a mobile phone concept made to make you waste money with cheap microtransactions. It’s a definite pass.